Dog Found Abandoned Outside Facing Third Christmas Without A Forever Home

A dog who was abandoned and left to fend for herself is facing a third straight Christmas without a home to call her own.

In some way, Indigo is lucky to be alive. A spokesperson for Kiss My Paws, the non-profit dog rescue located in Las Vegas, Nevada, that first shone a light on Indigo’s situation, told Newsweek she was “found in a park across the street from an apartment community.”

“They did some digging and ended up finding out what apartment and the people had either moved or got evicted and left her behind. She had been there several weeks.”

In normal circumstances, Indigo might have ended up in one of Nevada’s animal shelters—but the individual who found her didn’t want that, and neither did Kiss My Paws. They both believed that, had she ended up at the wrong shelter, Indigo “would not still be here.”

The shelter said: “The person who found her refused to take her to the shelter. He offered to foster her so we accepted her into the rescue.”

Even then, there was hope that Indigo’s original owner might come forward. That her abandonment was a mistake. But that wasn’t what happened.”We did post her as found but no one came forward,” Kiss My Paws said.

That proved to be a blessing in disguise though. She benefited from the care and focus of a foster carer while Kiss My Paws provided her with weeks of board and training to the point that she now knows basic commands.

More than that though, the time with her foster carer helped bring out Indigo’s playful side. The research speaks for itself: a 2018 study from the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science found just 15 minutes of one-on-one petting was enough to provide shelter pets with a measurable boost to their overall wellbeing.

Indigo has thrived in this kind of environment. “She loves tennis balls and playing fetch. She will drop the ball right at your feet so you can throw it,” Kiss My Paws said. “She’s very sweet and loving and wants to be right next to you. She’s a super snuggler.”

Yet despite so many positives, the sad reality remains that Indigo has yet to be adopted.

This will be her third Christmas without a forever home and comes against a backdrop of declining adoption rates in the U.S.

According to the Animal Shelter Count national database, over the first half of 2024, dog adopts decreased five percent year on year. That equates to 59,000 fewer.

Kiss My Paws attributes Indigo’s failure to get adopted down to a variety of reasons.

“The biggest obstacle we have had is that she gets very overstimulated outside the home and would need to be adopted to someone willing to continue training and who has pit bull experience,” they said.

“Because of the way she looks we have received applications throughout the years but none were a good fit. Our job as a rescue is always to find the right home for each dog and with this breed we are even more careful where they go.”

The hope now is that, come Christmas 2025, Indigo finds a home and a family that’s for keeps.